CHINESE JOURNAL OF ENERGETIC MATERIALS
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Synthesis and Performance of Sorbitol Acetal Gelators for Strongly Acidic Gel Propellants
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Affiliation:

1.Beijing Institute of Technology, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Beijing , China;2.Inner Mongolia Research Institute of Synthetic Chemical Industry

Fund Project:

Grant support: Aerospace Basic Scientific Research Project

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    Abstract:

    Hydroxylammonium nitrate (HAN) aqueous solution is strongly acidic and highly oxidative. To address these characteristics, three sorbitol acetal-based low-molecular-weight gelators (D1, D2, D3) were designed and synthesized, and the rapid gelation of HAN aqueous solution was successfully achieved. The gelation ability of the three gelators, as well as the rheological and thermodynamic properties of the HAN gel propellants, were systematically investigated. The results showed that all three gelators were structurally stable in acidic media and cooperatively constructed a three-dimensional network through non-covalent interactions, including hydrogen bonding, π-π stacking and halogen bonding. With only 1.0% gelator, 70% HAN aqueous solution could be gelled within 90-120 s. Rheological tests indicated that all three HAN gel propellants exhibited pronounced shear-thinning behavior, and their viscosities at high shear rate approached that of pure HAN solution, with a viscosity of 95.9 mPa·s at 1000 s-1. The thixotropic recovery rate reached as high as 87.5%, and the critical strain was 23.7%, demonstrating excellent mechanical stability. Thermodynamic analysis showed that the gel-sol transition temperatures ranged from 55-75 ℃. After storage at -25 ℃ for 30 min, no crystal precipitation or liquid exudation was observed, indicating suitable phase-transition reversibility and low-temperature stability. The gelators reduced the freezing point of HAN aqueous solution to below -25 ℃ and promoted the exothermic decomposition of HAN. The peak decomposition temperature decreased by 26.4 ℃, and the decomposition enthalpy increased to 526.3 J‧g-1. This study provides new low-molecular-weight gelator materials for the gelation of high-energy liquid propellants with strong acidity and oxidizing properties.

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YANG Yuze, LIU Jinming, PEI Yu, et al. Synthesis and Performance of Sorbitol Acetal Gelators for Strongly Acidic Gel Propellants[J]. Chinese Journal of Energetic Materials(Hanneng Cailiao),DOI:10.11943/CJEM2026085.

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History
  • Received:April 09,2026
  • Revised:July 22,2026
  • Adopted:May 10,2026
  • Online: July 12,2026
  • Published: